Romance Novel Review: Michelle Grotewohl’s Engagement
Genre: Contemporary romantic comedy
Average Smashwords Rating: 5 Stars
My rating: 1 star
The dispute started on the first day of kindergarten when Ethan put dirt in Arin’s hair. He followed them throughout school, even through college. But when Ethan and Arin get a job at an advertising company working together, like the “Dream Team,” it seems like they finally have to work together. With the two of you sharing the same space so close, you may realize that what you feel for each other is not hatred, but sexual tension.
This is supposed to be just a cute story about two kids who grow up hating each other before realizing they like each other, but it has an unintentional darker side to it. Most of the jokes the two boys played on each other were harmless and funny. Like the dirt he put in Arin’s hair, or Arin putting gum in Ethan’s hair.
The jokes they made in college were even relatively funny and harmless. Arin dyed Ethan’s clothes pink to get back at him for trading his backpack for one full of condoms and pregnancy tests.
But some of the jokes weren’t funny or harmless, and it’s offensive that the author tried to pass them off as such.
Ethan hit Arin with a chair, hard enough to hurt him. He also broke the strap of her bra. These are not fun skirmishes in a cute childish fight. This is physical and sexual abuse and they have no place in what is supposed to be a light and funny story, especially of the so-called love interest.
Not that Arin also has his share of non-funny jokes. Calming Ethan is wrong too, and telling Millie, an uncomfortable teenager, that Ethan liked him just to mess with him is total harassment. It’s really hard to care about any of the main characters when they are thugs pretending to be locked in a cute, flirtatious war.
Perhaps these acts would have been almost acceptable if the characters admitted that they took things too far. Objective no. The whole story basically said this was okay, and even fun.
Frig. That.
However, that’s not the only bad thing about this story. Arin and Ethan’s love affair feels really strained, probably because they don’t do any good to each other, nor do they show any feelings except for mutual hatred. They feel more like brother and sister at best, and distant at that.
Also, my suspension of disbelief was severely stretched when they not only went to the same job field (despite being “totally different” from each other) but also ended up working as the “dream team” with dream jobs. None of them have a bachelor’s degree right now! But does your boss decide that they are geniuses who will make you millions? Yes. Safe.
As a college student facing a shitty job market, the ease of landing your dream job is incredibly annoying. Either they should be miserable interns or far more experienced than AS holders looking for their first jobs. That is more realistic and does not affect the story at all.
In addition to all my problems with the plot, there are also the problems with Grotewohl’s narrative ability. Sure this story was funny at times and it didn’t bore me, but there was so a lot summing up! We barely saw any dialogue, description, or action from Arin and Ethan, and certainly nothing that made me really care about them. All we saw was them arguing. Everybody. Tea. Weather.
Commitment it is simply an unforgettable short story about two toxic people who bring out the worst in each other. I suggest you look elsewhere for your dose of romance.